The 2026 EGSS conference brought together students and faculty members from the Education Faculty at McGill University and beyond.
Problem-Solving Strategies in Geometry: A Middle-School Students’ Perspective
Minh-Tri Nguyen & Marta Kobiela
Minh-Tri Nguyen, a current Master student and a VIRL member, presented his thesis, including some of the preliminary results from his research project.
Abstract: To deal with complex situations in everyday life, students require problem-solving, the ability to work through a task where there is no immediate solution (NCTM, 2000). Problem-solving is especially critical in mathematics, particularly geometry due to its visual nature (Vale & Barbosa, 2018). However, problem-solving in geometry is often underemphasized in school mathematics due to assessment pressures (Blinkey et al., 2012). This research aims to explore the reasons behind the strategies used to understand and solve an unfamiliar problem in geometry. Particularly, the problems focus on area measurement, a concept for which students are known to struggle to make a connection between the area of a shape and its formula to obtain it (Bonotto, 2003). This study is informed by the situative learning framework, with a focus on the intersection of cognitive processes and interactions with tools and people (Greeno, 2011). This framework allows us to understand students’ participation in problem-solving in relation to disciplinary community norms and practices. Using a case study approach (Yin, 2013), the first author conducted 45-60-minute individual video-recorded semi-structured interviews with 6 students in grade 8 from a secondary school in Eastern Canada. To situate their problem-solving, students were asked about their perceptions and experiences with it. Then, they completed 3 geometric problem-solving tasks. After each task, the first author asked them to describe how they started, why they used specific steps, and how they dealt with any challenges encountered.
The data is currently being analyzed through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), focusing on capturing the problem-solving strategies that students used. For instance, “Using Numbers that are Not in the Problem” refers to the strategy of making up some numbers that were not explicitly stated in the problem. One of the participants used it in the second task, which contains no numbers, by measuring the provided figure with a ruler to obtain the side of the square, so he could solve the task. This presentation will focus on the data collection and the development of the coding scheme. Potential results will contribute to understanding how secondary students make choices when solving area problems on their own. Results will help mathematics teachers understand students’ problem-solving, so they can better support them to improve mathematical understanding and to encourage problem-solving autonomy.
The Intersection of Math and Language Anxiety
Elisa Fogarty, Marta Kobiela
Elisa Fogarty, a current Master student and a VIRL member, presented her thesis research project. Elisa was the second place recipient of the Would You Fund It? Award. Congrats, Elisa!
Abstract: Mathematics anxiety, the negative mental or physiological reactions prompted by mathematics-affiliated activities (Li, 2025), is a common phenomenon. Beyond discomfort, mathematics anxiety can limit involvement in STEM fields (Barroso, 2021). Learning mathematics is unique to Quebec because immersion contexts incite learning math in an additional language. Learning content in an additional language can bring foreign language anxiety (Kiaer, 2021). Thus, both mathematics and additional language learning are anxiety-inducing, such is the focus of my research.
In traditional views of mathematics, dialogue between students is limited. Instead, some researchers pose mathematics as a discursive activity, or math as a social activity (MSA), an activity conducted through “spoken, written or symbolic interaction” (Barwell, 2005, pp. 119-120). Engaging in MSA is an inherently creative and inclusive practice as opposed to traditional math teaching, and possibly less anxiety inducing, as we know that engaging in math talk creates more positive experiences for students (Petronzi et al., 2024).
I will utilize the embodied perspective, and the situative perspective to guide my research. The embodied perspective suggests that knowledge can be demonstrated through gestures, which aid learning (Alibali, 2011). Thom (2015) points out that “conceptualizing the body, in mathematics, as a dynamic cognitive system” (Thom, 2015, p. 72) warrants verbal or non-verbal activity as a showcase of understanding. This theory will inform my analysis by considering what students say verbally and their gestures. I will utilize a situative perspective, which argues that learning is situated in specific environments and can be done with the people and the tools around us, including language (Greeno, 2014). A situative approach focuses on how “participants talk, gesture and create visible representations for each other as they interact” (Greeno, 2014, p. 85). Thus, I will examine participants’ interactions rather than accuracy.
My research questions are: How do students describe their math anxiety when engaging in MSA? (RQ1) How do students describe their language anxiety when engaging in MSA? (RQ2) How do students’ experiences in MSA compare to their other mathematics and language experiences? (RQ3) To answer these questions, interviews and a spatial reasoning task involving mapping will be used. Three French immersion students will complete the task collaboratively. Data will be analyzed through a thematic analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2017), to identify themes related to how students describe their experiences (RQ1+RQ2) and comparisons with in MSA compared to other experiences (QR3). My research design and expected implications will be presented.
Participatory Co-Analysis in Spatial Reasoning Research: Reframing Interpretation Through Two Cases
Hedi Jaza, Marta Kobiela, Lily Ziqi Jin, Amna Fleeh
Hedi Jaza, a recently graduated Master student and a VIRL member, presented his thesis with his analysis and some methodological results of his study. Lily Ziqi Jin (VIRL member) and Amna Fleeh, two co-analysis participants of Hedi’s research, also joined him in the presentation to share their experiences.
Abstract: Spatial reasoning is the ability to visualize and manipulate objects in two- and three-dimensional space and is critical for success in STEM, yet it remains underemphasized in many curricula (Whiteley et al., 2015; Gilligan-Lee et al., 2022). Research on spatial reasoning has often relied on researcher-led analyses of participants’ activity. However, such interpretations may not fully capture how participants themselves understand their reasoning, particularly in linguistically and culturally complex contexts where mathematical meaning is expressed through multiple semiotic resources (Moschkovich, 2015; Zahner & Aquino-Sterling, 2022). In response to calls for more reflexive and socially accountable qualitative inquiry, this study asks: What becomes visible when participants are invited to co-interpret their spatial reasoning? The study is grounded in sociocultural and embodied perspectives on learning, which understand reasoning as mediated through language, gesture, artifacts, and interaction rather than located solely in the individual mind (Vygotsky, 1978; Alibali & Nathan, 2012; Goodwin, 2000). Language is treated as a mediational resource through which mathematical meanings are negotiated and displayed, especially in multilingual settings (Moschkovich, 2015). The study also draws on participatory case study methodology, which positions participants as knowledge contributors and foregrounds the ethical responsibility of researchers to examine how interpretations are constructed (Reilly, 2010). Data come from video recordings of task-based clinical interviews and co-analysis sessions with two B.Ed preservice teachers completing 2D rotation tasks. During co-analysis, participants revisited selected video parts with the research team and responded to questions to clarify they reasoned about these tasks. These conversations informed an initial coding scheme, which was then used to analyze key episodes; final interpretations were checked against co-analysis notes to keep both researcher and participant perspectives in view.
Preliminary findings suggest that participatory co-analysis is especially valuable when initial interpretations are uncertain or open to multiple readings. Across both cases, co-analysis clarified participants’ intentions, highlighted how language shaped the expression of spatial reasoning, and surfaced moments where researchers and participants emphasized different aspects of the same episode. Rather than simply validating researcher interpretations, co-analysis helped refine them. This work contributes to spatial reasoning research and mathematics education by showing how participatory co-analysis can support more reflexive and context-sensitive interpretations of learners’ reasoning. In this conference we will present the methodology with planned accessibility efforts that includes high-contrast slides, limited on-screen text, verbal description of visuals, and plain-language explanations of key terms.